The production techniques of magnetic recording medium, such as a magnetic tape, have been recently improved remarkably so that a new magnetic tape, such as a metallic tape, having an extremely high coercive force, for instance Hc=1,200 Oe, has appeared in the market. In order to erase signals prerecorded on such a magnetic tape, the erasure ratio, i.e. the degree of erasure, must be over -60 dB. To meet this requirement the size of conventional erase heads had to be increased, providing an erasure ratio sufficient to erase signals prerecorded on such a new type magnetic tape. However, when an erase head is assembled in a cassette tape recorder or a player, the size of the erase head must be small enough since there is little space left for an erase head due to the provision of other elements, such as a recording head, a reproducing head, a capstan idler and the like. For instance, in a three-head cassette tape player, the space left for an erase head is about 2.6 millimeters when measured in the direction of the tape movement. The width of an erase head having conventional construction, and providing sufficient erasure ratio for the above mentioned new tapes can not be made to fit this space less than this value.